Student Channel

New 500K space opens for young researchers

Young researchers say ‘Salford just got better’ after a new £500,000 Postgraduate Suite opened in Newton.

The new suite on the first floor, created by converting storerooms, is part of a wider reinvention of Newton which includes a forthcoming ‘maker-space’ and a £16m Engineering Showcase extension.

Offering a PC suite, meeting rooms, social-relax space and two kitchens, the new space was officially opened by Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Enterprise) Professor Gerry Kelleher and Dean of School Professor Sunil Vadera on Wednesday, October 26.

'Home base'

Will Bailey, a 2nd year PhD student in Acoustic Engineering said: “I’ll be spending every day in here. I’ve got my work station and we can have our meetings in here. Yeah, it’s good to have a home base.”

First-year PhD Lauren Ward says the new space will bring the students closer together: “One of the attractions of Salford is the size of the PGR community. It’s not too big and it’s not too small – we’ve around 15 PhDs in our field, so there are plenty of individual ideas but we’re close enough to share.”

Thanking the CSE team for their efforts, Professor Kelleher said it was important for research students not to feel isolated and said he hoped the suite would help people succeed in their studies: “With my background in artificial intelligence, I know how important is it is for students of different disciplines to mix; it can give you other perspectives and even make your PhD more interesting.”